Nucleic acid dynamics at the plant-rhizosphere interface: Regulatory mechanisms, and implications for future food security: A review.
Nazir MJ, Hussain MM, Ali S, Otwil P, Iddi AT
Soil Health
The soil beneath your vegetable beds is alive with genetic chatter — your plants are constantly broadcasting DNA and RNA into the root zone to recruit beneficial microbes, fend off pathogens, and signal neighbors, which means the health of that invisible community is being shaped by the plants you choose to grow.
Scientists used to think DNA and RNA only worked inside cells, carrying instructions for building proteins. It turns out plants also release these molecules into the soil around their roots, where they act like chemical messages that shape which microbes live nearby and how the plant responds to drought or disease. This review connects all of that research into one framework, suggesting that what's happening inside a plant and what's happening in its surrounding soil are really one continuous system.
Key Findings
Plant roots actively release extracellular DNA and RNA into the rhizosphere, where these molecules influence which microbes assemble around roots and how nutrients are exchanged — functions far beyond simple genetic storage.
Recent tools including genome editing, pan-genomics, and long non-coding RNA research have revealed that non-coding RNA molecules play major regulatory roles in how plants adapt to drought, salinity, and pathogen attack.
The authors propose a unified 'adaptive continuum' model in which intracellular gene regulation and extracellular soil signaling are a single integrated system, offering new targets for breeding climate-resilient crops.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Plants communicate with the microscopic life in their soil using DNA and RNA released from their roots — molecules once thought to only work inside cells. This review argues that these extracellular genetic messages are a hidden language connecting plant health, soil microbes, and crop resilience under climate stress.
Abstract Preview
Nucleic acids, including deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), are no longer regarded solely as carriers of hereditary information or intermediates of gene expression. They are no...
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